Georges St-Pierre likely meeting Nick Diaz at UFC 158 in Montreal

It appears UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre will defend his divisional title for the second straight time in front of a hometown crowd, as the world’s foremost MMA organization is looking to schedule his eagerly anticipated outing against Nick Diaz on March 16 at UFC 158 in Montreal. Though not officially scheduled, UFC President Dana White and Diaz’s manager/coach, Cesar Gracie, have both confirmed Diaz have been offered the bout and a signature is expected in the coming days.

If booked, the match-up will mark the third time the UFC has attempted to have Diaz and St-Pierre face off. Their first fight fell apart after Diaz missed a pair of press conferences, while a severe knee injury to St-Pierre caused the second scrap’s cancellation.

Though not necessarily a deserving contender, Diaz’s personal attacks on St-Pierre and occasionally disrespectful demeanor have earned him a crack at one of MMA’s most popular champions. He will enter the affair with a 26-8 record including past success against Frank Shamrock, Robbie Lawler, Paul Daley, and B.J. Penn. The 29-year old will also have a bit of ring rust to shake off, sitting out since early February due to a failed drug test for marijuana use.

The 23-2 St-Pierre’s last stop in Montreal came a little more than a month ago at UFC 154 where he defeated Carlos Condit after a lengthy injury-induced layoff. The win was his tenth straight and seventh consecutive defense of his belt.

why do Canadians always get to fight in canada? i’d rather see champions and contender fights on neutral ground. i thought Rory Mcd’s challenge to Carlos was a bit lame ‘i want revenge, accept my challenge, but its got to be on my home turf’
i’m sure it doesn’t matter too much but still…

i’m nearly ten years older than Nick, that shit freaks me out!
every time i see Big Nog i think the same thing, i’ve been supporting him for years, and yet i’m a wee bit older than him, he looks old enough to be my dad!

Nick Diaz was immediately given a title shot upon his return to the UFC, only to throw it away by blowing off media obligations and pissing off Dana White. Then he beat BJ Penn, who is 1-4-1 in his last 6 fights, before losing to Carlos Condit and earning a 1-year suspension for another failed drug test.

But by all fucking means, give Nick Diaz a title shot. It’s not like there’s another more deserving contender, riding a 5-fight win streak with victories over 3 top WW contenders in the past year, while doing everything in his power to support the UFC banner in a professional manner. Nope, I can’t think of anyone like that.

This is just the latest decision by the UFC powers that demonstrates total hypocrisy when it comes to employee treatment & discipline, while simultaneously taking a fat dump on divisional rankings and the process by which fighters earn the opportunity to compete for a title.

Maximize revenue in the short term? Check.

Protect the legitimacy of the sport? Not so much.

Dana White & Co. continue to cozy up next to boxing in that territory between WWE and legitimate pro sports.

Worst part is the real #1`contender will now have to wait at least 6 months for a shot. Sad. I mean if there was no one in line fine let him fight ND, but that is not the case. If it were GSP in line like Hendricks is he would be screaming. Well if nothing else ND will be another fine decsion win for GSP, cause you know he won’t finish him!

Interesting to see what Hendricks does now. Does he take another fight? Or sit out for 10 or so months to face the winner? Then what if GSP fights Silva?

Too many scenarios but each one seems to put Hendricks in an undesirable position. Personally, I hope he waits, takes the shot late next year and gets his pay back by winning the title. Wishful thinking though!

He’s made contradictory statements about that, he said he only wanted to fight for a title and would wait if he didn’t get it, but either earlier this week, or last week, he said that he’d take a fight if he had to

Who else would Hendricks fight? I think he should hold out for his title shot.

If Dana tries to make the GSP/Silva fight first, then have Hendricks fight Rory. And when Hendricks lays out Rory, I hope he stands over his unconscious body and just points and stares at GSP, silently saying “You did this. This is all your fault.”

Yes, would the fine folks at 5oz please add the word ‘is’ between the words ‘this’ and ‘one’ in the first sentence of my previous post?
Thankyou, and I assure you that the spelling of the F- word was deliberate.

This sucks. I refuse to reward Dana and the ufc for this decision so I will not be ordering this ppv. If I watch it at all it will be at a bar that is showing it. I know it really won’t make a difference to them but I just can’t do it.

Completly agree with Rece here, Hendricks is looking great, but beating a Fitch off a injury and a bad knee, scraping by Kos who almost finshed him in the first, and knocking out Kampmann who is prone to getting stopped by big punches isnt making me think he has any chance at beating GSP.